


This Earth, This Realm, This Station

by cheshireArcher



Series: Shakespeare Broadcasting AU [1]
Category: Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 2 - Shakespeare, Henry V - Shakespeare, Richard II - Shakespeare
Genre: Gen, Modern au- broadcasting, My apologies to the Columbia Broadcasting System, Radio, Sandwich-based home video fomats are not a good idea, TV stations, disastrous call-in shows, local broadcasting, lots of exposition, more tags/characters to be added, not a total rewrite of the Histories just an au, obsolete video formats, occasional family fluffiness, pirate radio, references to alt rock, royal family dynamics via broadcasting, signal highjacking, some of this was originally published separately, stressed-out dads, tape formats big enough to kill a man, what even is this AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 14:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7365625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to Channel 33, WKTE, managed by Henry Bolingbroke and undermined by everyone else. Gratuitous references to broadcasting, obsolete technology, and Shakespeare's view of the history of England abound as Mr. Bolingbroke and his team fight to save the station. Good luck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally getting around to actually writing stuff for this au, thanks to support from a certain fan. These chapters probably won't follow much more than a loose plot and are more along the lines of "what would happen if you set the characters of the Second Tetrology loose on the air" so please excuse the disjointed mess I'm sure this will be. 
> 
> Disclaimer: while I am a broadcast enthusiast and have studied the history of broadcasting I currently do not work in the field. I'm doing my best to make sure I've got everything researched properly but I'm by no means an expert.

Henry Bolingbroke was having the worst day possible- aside from all the other worst days he'd had. Things had started out frustrating since Richard had bitterly handed over management of the station to Henry, and things has just gotten progressively worse. He had never actually _asked_ to become manager, but that miserable preening autocrat had stepped down and made him successor. 

CBS 33, WKTE was, at the moment, absolute chaos. A vague yet threatening letter from the network had arrived and Ed had been sent to sort it out. For the tenth time this month, Henry's son, Henry Jr. (better known as Harry or Hal) had not come to work at the station.

The little troublemaker was probably in the basement of wherever tinkering with his friends and phreaking or signal hijacking. Harry, as his father called him, was an engineering genius, but he chose to squander his talents in illegal activities. 

"Alright, listen up," Mr. Bolingbroke said, surveying his station staff. "Today is going to be long and miserable and I need you all to cooperate. Our schedule has been completely messed up, we lost one of our advertising accounts, and we're having some trouble with the network." 

There was some mumbling from the assembled staff, either complaining about the increased responsibilities they'd be given or blaming each other for the situation. They all knew that the words "budget cuts" usually followed pronouncements like this. Trouble with the network was even worse- if they lost their affiliation they'd be left without a station. 

"Anyway, while we wait on Ed to find out what's wrong, we keep going on as usual. Advertising's working to get us another account and I'm working with scheduling to reorder things. If we have complete cooperation, we won't have a repeat of last week's little incident." Mr. Bolingbroke took a deep breath. His vacation plans were slipping away as he spoke. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my office." 

The station had barely been holding itself together since Richard had stepped down, and Mr. Bolingbroke wasn't in much better shape. He was in desperate need of a vacation but everything kept getting worse and he was beginning to think that this was his repayment for taking control of the station from Richard. Of course it was. 

\----

"Bad news, Henry," Walt Blunt, program director, said, walking into Mr. Bolingbroke's office. "Percy refuses to cooperate with scheduling, says something about his contract." 

"That little..." Mr. Bolingbroke gritted his teeth. Harry Percy was an excellent cameraman, but thanks to being argumentative and terminally overstimulated he was yet another problem for Mr. Bolingbroke. "What does he want?"

"He says it's something about Mort. He says he wants Mort back on camera two with him for the 10 o' clock news."

"Tell him Mort was fired and last I checked was still fired," Mr. Bollingbroke replied. "And that little punk will cooperate or his butt will be out on the street too."

"Duly noted. What are we filling up that midday chunk up with?" Walt asked, leaning in the doorframe. 

"You're the program director," Mr. Bolingbroke replied, fidgeting with a pencil. "See if you have any special programming, reruns, public domain, anything."

"Got it." 

"See if the boys'll help you," Mr. Bolingbroke said. "It's summer so they're here all week." 

"I'm sure I'll appreciate the extra help," Walt replied. He saluted his boss, an old joke between them (the origins long forgotten) and left the office. 

Mr. Bolingbroke put his head in his hands. The station was a madhouse and he'd been left in control and right now he actually started missing Richard, if just because then he wasn't the one responsible. Richard had driven the budget into the ground, buying crap the station didn't need and attempting programs that failed. The only thing that kept channel 33 going was their affiliation with CBS and Richard had nearly lost that. 

He knew he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Uneasy lies the head that manages a station.


	2. Chapter 2

Ed called Mr. Bolingbroke the moment he escaped the meeting with the network. 

"How'd the meeting go?" Mr. Bolingbroke asked. 

"Not good," Ed replied, stepping back to let some execs pass him in the hall. "Thanks to the debts the station owes us, we- them- CBS- is debating revoking their affiliation with WKTE." 

Mr. Bolingbroke groaned on the other end. "I'm about to make Richard go to explain himself," he said. "He caused it." 

"I'm sorry," Ed replied. 

"You don't have to apologize Ed," Mr. Bolingbroke said. "You're not responsible for what your husband did."

"I still feel that as the representative for CBS, I should have worked harder on my end to-" 

"Shut up, Ed, it's my problem to deal with now." Mr. Bolingbroke's end went silent for a moment. "How's Isabelle?" 

"She's doing well," Ed replied. "She's about to start first grade."

"Oh, she's starting school already?" Mr. Bolingbroke said, sounding surprised. The other end was quiet for a moment again, then he said "That's right. She's Philippa's age." 

"I guess so," Ed said. "I have another meeting in an hour, so I'll call you when I know more." 

"Goodbye, Ed." 

"Goodbye, sir." Mr. Bolingbroke hung up, leaving Ed completely alone in a hall in the headquarters of the Columbia Broadcasting Service. On the wall, staring at him, was the CBS Eyeball of Doom. Hard to be anything but tender-hearted when you had that glaring at you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entirely exposition, focusing on Hal and his operations.

Henry Bolingbroke, Jr., better known as Hal, was Mr. Bolingbroke's oldest child, in college and supposed to be studying broadcast engineering but was more likely to be found at the local record shop, the Boar's Head, or somewhere with equipment, getting practical (and illegal) experience. 

He couldn't stand working with his father, even though he was supposed to help out at the station. Something in him had snapped when he was faced with responsibility and expectations he'd never actually agreed too. Everyone expected him to be exactly like the rest of his family. He couldn't help it that his dad had always been in broadcasting, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather had worked for one of the first television stations in the state. 

Things had been relatively fine between Hal, his father, and the station, with Hal helping on weekends during the school year. Then Richard Bordeaux, the station manager, had gotten locked in war with the other managers and the owner. And with the network. And with pretty much everyone but the janitor. His mismanagement nearly lost the station their affiliation with the Columbia Broadcasting Service, and was why one of their in-between channels, 33.2, ended up having no programming and going off the air because the in-between affiliate that ran old reruns pulled out of their contract with the station. 

Richard had resigned, bitterly, and that made Hal's father, Henry Bolingbroke Sr., the station manager. Hal was given more responsibility, primarily with helping his father, and he finally lost all his patience. He stopped working at the station and started on a project he'd had in the works with his friend, Ned- a pirate radio station. 

Ned Poins was a communications major, Hal's age, and great with equipment. He'd found a disused AM transmitter in an abandoned station and fixed it up, making their own station- Boar's Head Radio, or "WBHR," named after the record shop they hung out at with the rest of their low-life broadcasting friends. 

Jack, the leader of the gang, was older than Hal and Ned, and had at one point worked for a legitimate radio station- then been fired. Now he was primarily a phreaker, a broadcast experimenter and mostly into phone hacking, but he was better at talking himself out of awkward situations than actually fixing them.

Everyone knew that Hal was the son of a TV station manager, but at this point no one cared. Here Hal could do what he wanted with his expertise. 

The station was on the air when Hal and Ned weren't in class. While being one of the DJs, Ned was the primary engineer, and he'd orchestrated some of the greatest pranks- often on Jack. He also picked some of the best music for the station thanks to a taste dominated by classic rock, while Hal tended to spin more indie and alt. They never let Jack pick the music- not since the time he tried to bring back disco. For the most part, the only rule was nothing from the Top 40- nothing anyone expected. 

And that was what Hal wanted to do- nothing anyone expected.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more exposition (basically the only thing I can write apparently), more about Hal and Ned's friendship. Thanks to Caelidra for the idea for this chapter!

Hal had known Ned for years. They'd been friends since Ned moved to Hal's town when they were four. They both had been fascinated by the TV in the Bolingbroke living room. For Hal, it was probably because his father sometimes took him to the station. Ned just wanted to see what it could do. That was what led to what years later was only referred to in hushed whispers as "the VCR versus PBJ Incident."

Hal was a clever child, and had figured out how to work the VCR when he was four. He had managed to tape a half-hour of some stuffy PBS British drama over a cheap tape with the record tab still in, and had also figured out how to change the clock on the front (although it didn't help anything because he couldn't tell time anyway). 

One day when Hal and Ned were six, they were examining the VCR when Ned asked "Do you think it plays sandwiches?" Neither were aware of the difference in home video formats and the fact that lunches did not play in VCRs, Betamax decks, Laserdisc players, or anything else. So Ned's peanut butter and jelly sandwich was put in the front and the fast-forward button was pressed, resulting in a literally jammed VCR and a very angry Mr. Bolingbroke.

The incident solidified something between the boys, and they would always be friends, even after their failed attempt to introduce a sandwich-based format to the home video market. Even as they grew up, Ned followed Hal around as if he were his shadow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like basically everything I write I am writing this as it comes to me and it's all very disjointed and I'm working on sorting it out and making it plausible and constantly asking my former broadcaster father for advice. Hope this chapter begins to explain what's going on at the station.

**90 Days Left**

"Phone call for you, Dad," Thomas Bolingbroke said, poking his head in his father's office.

"What? Where's my phone?" Mr. Bolingbroke looked up from his computer, surprised.

"Here," Thomas said, stepping in and handing him the phone. "You left it in studio A."

"Right. Hello, Bolingbroke."

"Uh, hello Mr. Bolingbroke, this is Ed."

"Hello, Ed. Any news from the front?"

"Yeah. Um, the negotiations didn't go too well, and CBS has decided to rescind the contract."

Mr. Bolingbroke dropped his head on his desk.

"You have ninety days and then you're own your own," Mr. Bolingbroke heard Ed say. He lifted his head and put the phone back up to his ear.

"So what do we do then?" Mr. Bolingbroke asked, dreading the answer.

"You can't go off the air," Ed replied.

" _I know that,_ " Mr. Bolingbroke snapped, immediately feeling sorry for replying to the already nervous Ed that way. "I suppose we have to keep the station running with our own programming. Is there any chance we can renegotiate? Richard's not here any more."

"I'll keep trying," Ed said. "I've been in meetings all day and I haven't gotten anywhere except being told they're leaving the contract." He was silent for a moment.

"You can say 'we,' Ed," Mr. Bolingbroke said. "You work for CBS, not the station."

"Richard is the one who broke the terms of the contract," Ed replied finally. "If I make the case that you're the new manager and you're willing one hundred percent to agree to the terms of the contract and whatever they want to add, we might be able to keep you on the air."

"I'd give my left leg for that."

"I'll be sure to tell them that. Good luck, Mr. Bolingbroke."

"Good luck, Ed."

\------

Mr. Bolingbroke made the announcement to the station after lunch.

"We have ninety days, then we're no longer part of CBS," he said. He'd called a meeting with the other managers and heads: Walt Blunt, director of programming; Rick Scroop, marketing; news director and lead newsman Owen Glendower; Will Bagot, scheduling; Earl Westmoreland, assistant manager; Rich Vernon, chief engineer; and Harry Percy, chief cameraman. The only person not present was Ed Aumerle, their network liaison, currently in New York City.

"So what do we do?" Earl asked.

"We hope we can get a new contract," Mr. Bolingbroke replied, flipping through his notes. "Apparently the terms are currently my soul and my firstborn."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Percy mumbled from the other end of the table. Vernon, sitting next to him, smacked his shoulder to get him to shut up.

Mr. Bolingbroke ignored Percy's comment and returned to the matter at hand. "Right now we're going to have to do a lot of reshuffling. Ever since last week's incident with the files getting deleted, we have to retape some of the local shows. Also, since in a few months we might not have any programming, we need to have something lined up."

"Already working on it," Walt said.

"Percy, do you have backups of anything?"

"I'll go check," Percy replied, standing up. "Question- if we're working double time does that mean Mort can come ba-"

"Don't talk about Mort to me ever! Mr. Bolingbroke snapped. "He's still fired!"

As Percy left the meeting room and headed down the hall, Mr. Bolingbroke could hear him shouting "Mort! Mort! Mort!"

Kate Percy must be a saint to put up with him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a sneaky reference to the A Team in here. Also a reference to Adventures in Odyssey.

**90 Days Left**

Walt opened the door to the to where the station kept non-digital footage. Most of the tapes piled up on shelves were simply relics of a bygone era. With him were Thomas and Humphrey Bolingbroke, who were interning at the station for the summer.

"Who's Ed Sullivan?" Thomas asked, looking at an old tape.

Walt had taken Thomas and Humphrey with him to the archive to find some programs they could air to fill up the empty blocks that week. There had been an accident the previous weekend that Mr. Bolingbroke could only refer to in a resigned voice as "the incident," which was the deletion of the digital taping of several local shows. Mr. Percy had thrown a fit of legendary proportions and he was in this case justified.

"Okay kids, pull anything you find that's public domain," said Mr. Blunt.

Humphrey, Mr. Bolingbroke's youngest son, looked up at Mr. Blunt. "Are we really going to have to go off the air?"

"Your dad won't let that happen. He's got a crack team of broadcasters on his side and we'll get this place up and running in no time," Mr. Blunt replied, sorting through some film canisters.

"Dad said they're a bunch of incompetent nincompoops," Thomas said flatly.

"Hey Mr. Blunt," Humphrey called from the back of storage, "I found a bunch of tapes. What are these?" He appeared, carrying an armful of tapes. He handed one to Mr. Blunt.

"I haven't seen these in years!" Mr. Blunt exclaimed. "These are Sony U-Matic cartridges. Now I feel old."

"What's a U-Matic?" Humphrey asked.

"It's an old format of tape that didn't get used widely in the home market," Mr. Blunt said. "We used it in broadcasting, though. In fact, I think we still have the machine."

"Cooool," Humphrey replied, intrigued.

"If you find a machine roughly the size of the station itself, that's it," Mr. Blunt said, going back to sorting through tapes and old footage.

Thomas and Humphrey made it a contest to find the weirdest thing in the storage room. Thomas came up with a tape that was nothing but drug PSAs and Humphrey found a tape labeled "The Exciting World of Leeks," which looked like a riveting watch.

Mr. Blunt finally had enough public domain footage to sort out further for broadcast. He took both the PSA and leek tapes, and the three headed back to the control room, where they'd review the footage and then discuss airing times with scheduling.

Humphrey liked working at the station and he liked old technology, but it made him sad as they reviewed tapes. Harry wasn't there, even though he should be. Harry was his favorite brother and Humphrey had always tagged along with him until, until he'd decided to not work at the station and instead apparently try to get himself in trouble...

Sometimes the family business was more distant than working for people you weren't related to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the Sony U-Matic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-matic


	7. Chapter 7

**83 Days Left**

The head cameraman, Harry Percy, had worked for the station for ten years. While he mainly oversaw the photography for in-house productions like the local current affairs call-in show and the nightly news at 10, he still worked the cameras himself in most cases. He was a skilled cameraman but was one of the people who gave Mr. Bolingbroke his daily migraine.

It had been a full week since the contract negotiations had failed. Eighty-three days to find a way to keep the station afloat and Walt Blunt and the others in programming were scrambling to find shows to run. Things got worse when the man who hosted the call-in show, Travers, was unable to do the show, leaving them with no host. Walt declared there was no way they were going to not do the show, that would be just the latest in a long line of signs of capitulation. Mr. Bolingbroke agreed, but was just as desperate as Walt. They had to find someone to take the calls and moderate the discussion.

So of course they put the most temperamental cameraman in history in front of the camera.

Thomas Bolingbroke agreed to help the show's camera operators, Alexa Court and Michele Williams with the camerawork, since Mr. Percy wouldn't be in charge

"Okay, camera one, start after the title card," the director, Mr. Bates said. "Good. Thomas, focus in on Percy."

Percy shifted uncomfortably in the chair. He hated sitting still and that was the entire job. "Hello and welcome to _Points of View_ , Lancaster's only television forum. I'm Harry Percy, filling in for your usual host, John Travers." He paused a moment to listen to the director's instructions in his earpiece. "We'll start taking calls now."

They soon got their first call. At Bates' prompting, Percy punched the button on the answering machine-like receiver on the desk. "Hello caller, you're on the air."

"Hello?"

"Yes caller, you're on air."

"Am I on?"

"Yes."

"Hello?"

"Okay caller, you're on air. What's your comment?"

"Hello? I can't tell if I'm on."

Bates facepalmed. This was going to be a long day.

"Okay, we're going to move on. We've got another caller on the line. Hello caller, you're on the air."

"Yeah, hi. I wanted to ask, when's the municipal council going to do anything about the potholes on York Street?"

"My thoughts exactly," Percy said, relieved that this caller actually said something. "I honestly don't know why they haven't done anything about it, or gotten off their lazy butts to actually do something for the community in the first place-"

Bates signaled for Percy to stop talking before he made the town council angry.

"Thanks for your call, man. You are a true prophet of our times," Percy concluded. "Okay, next caller. Hello, you're on the air."

"Hi. Is it true the station lost its contract with CBS?"

"Uh, actually it's the affiliation- what's it to you?"

"What happened at the station? Don't your viewers have the right to know what's going on if you're about to shut down?"

Bates hid his face behind his clipboard. He could see that this would not end pretty.

"Unless you work for the station, it's of no concern to you. We operate under funds from advertisers, and anyway we're currently in the process of contract negotiations and we'll be back with full affiliation rights in no time. And in the meantime if we DO go off the air, there's always NBC and ABC, although why you'd watch those I have no idea- you know what ABC stands for."

Thomas just stared at Percy. It was like watching a trainwreck in slow motion- and he couldn't tear himself away from it.

"The American Broadcast-"

"It stands for 'Almost Beat CBS.'"

"Yeah, well you know what they also say, 'If you want to see some BS, watch C-'"

"You listen to me! This station is the best one in the market and another thing-"

Bates signaled to Michele to cut the feed.

\----

"Hey Kate," the nurse practitioner said when she saw Kate Percy in the hallway in the doctor's office. "Your husband's on TV!"

Kate had on a look of fear as she stepped into the waiting room, still carrying a tray of blood samples. On the television mounted on one of the walls was WKTE, with her husband, Harry, on the local call-in show, yelling at a caller. Her eyes narrowed. As he was ranting about the merits of CBS and how the station was working perfectly, the feed was cut and in its place was an old Indian head test pattern, signifying "technical difficulties."

"I'm taking lunch," she said. Under her breath she added "I need to smack my husband upside the head."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "Almost Beat CBS" and "If you want to see some BS" jokes come from the YouTube show Oddity Archive, by Ben Minnotte. 
> 
> About the Indian-head test pattern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian-head_test_pattern.  
> While this card is no longer used as a test pattern, some stations might use it as a "technical difficulties" slide.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published separately as "Feeling a Moment."

Every night Kate tunes in, carefully turning the dial to find that exact spot on the radio that makes the signal as clear as it can be. There's an AM that comes on the air late at night that she found some months ago. The DJs only speak English and she has no idea what they're saying half the time, but the music is great- all alternative bands she's never heard of and are nothing like the Top 40 she listens to from the station in Montreal by day. 

She's never found anything about the station. She's searched its frequency online but every search comes up empty. Other stations listed on that frequency aren't the same format, and she's fairly certain this mysterious station actually shouldn't be on the air legally, it must be a pirate station- an unlicensed station, which is obviously illegal. Somehow that makes it even more awesome, listening to this underground station. The guys running this certainly have guts, and Kate likes that. 

The DJs joke about something and even though she doesn't understand, she laughs along. She gathers that there are only two guys on the air, one is named Ned and the other... oh the other... his name is Harry Leroy. 

He's Kate's favorite of the two. She loves his sweet, energetic voice and almost hates it when he puts on a record. Kate has no idea what he looks like but she has a half-formed image- he's probably really cute, with dark soulful eyes and maybe scruffy hair... she nearly squeals when she hears him, burying her face in her pillow. She wishes she understood what he's saying, although she recognizes the pattern of his voice right now to mean he's doing the lead-in for a song.

Kate stares at the ceiling, her hands behind her head as she is carried away by Harry's voice and the music.

 _Don't ever feel, that you're alone_

Kate falls asleep listening to the songs chosen by Harry, feeling like they're for her.

_I'll never let you down, I'll never leave you dry_

Harry is way better than the boys at school. It feels like he's always there for her. 

By day Kate looks up the random words she caught of songs and band names she now recognizes, putting them on her iPod. She writes Harry's name over and over in her history notebook. Alice asks who Harry Leroy is, is he some boy in one of your other classes? Kate just sighs. She's not sure she wants to tell anyone about the pirate station, about Harry, even her best friend. It's something special, waiting there at home every night. The station is there, the music is there, and Harry is there for her.

_Don't fall apart, don't let it go  
Carry the notion, carry the notion back to me_


	9. Chapter 9

**80 Days Left**

Mr. Bolingbroke sat at his desk making his last business rounds of the day, checking over paperwork and replying to the latest emails. They now had 80 days left with their affiliation. Ed had done all that he could, but apparently the damage was done.

"You did a good job, Ed," Mr. Bolingbroke said, holding the phone between his head and shoulder as he typed tomorrow's memos, which would almost certainly be used as coffee coasters rather than office communication. That evening Ed was coming home, catching the train from New York to Buffalo. He was checking in with Mr. Bolingbroke one last time before his train arrived.

"Thank you, Mr. Bolingbroke. I did my best," Ed replied. He sounded tired. "I'll stop by the station when I get-"

"Go home, Ed. Go see Isabelle and Richard. I'm sure they've missed you a lot," Mr. Bolingbroke said.

"I've skyped with them every night," Ed said. "Last night Isabelle showed me that she put a sweater on Mathe."

"That's adorable," Mr. Bolingbroke said. "I'm sure he didn't like it too much."

"Let's just say I'm not starting a line of fashion for greyhounds any time soon," Ed replied.

"Give Richard and Isabelle my best," Mr. Bolingbroke said.

"I will."

"How's Richard dealt with this last week?" Mr. Bolingbroke asked.

"If you're asking if he's happy now, after getting his way and running the station into the ground, I wouldn't say that," Ed replied. "It's been hard, you know, when someone from the network's married to the guy the network blames for wrecking one of its affiliates."

"Just don't let your marriage hinge on the network's decision," Mr. Bolingbroke said, wisely.

"It doesn't," Ed said. "Hey- my train's here. I'll talk to you later."

"Good night, Ed. And good luck."

\----

It was six in the evening when Mr. Bolingbroke got home. Ed would be returning home to Richard and Isabelle, whom he hadn't seen for nearly a week. Percy would be saying goodbye to Kate and the kids and heading out to get ready for the 10 o'clock news. Harry was still out with his friends, Mr. Bolingbroke noted as he stepped in the front door. The Bolingbroke house seemed strangely empty.

Thomas and John were in their room, playing Xbox. Humphrey was staying the night at a friend's house, and Philippa and Blanche were both at summer camp. This left Mr. Bolingbroke alone with his thoughts as he ate some leftover pasta and attempted to watch some TV. He thought back on his conversation with Ed- specifically about Richard.

Things hadn't always been so bad between Henry Bolingbroke and Richard Bordeaux. They'd begun their careers at Manhattan local access, two young members of families already involved in broadcasting. Mr. Bolingbroke's grandfather, Edward, had worked for one of the first television stations in the state, and Richard's family owned and operated several radio stations in the days before the big networks. The two young men had been friends, although they hadn't always seen eye to eye.

They ended up both being employed by the CBS affiliate in Lancaster, New York, a town near Buffalo. Richard eventually became station manager and Mr. Bolingbroke was assistant station manager. Things went sour because Richard listened to the wrong people, spent too much money on programs that didn't take off, and alienated several of their advertising accounts, which lost them a great deal of their budget. He got embroiled in a contract dispute with CBS, which was the last straw. The station board of directors reprimanded Richard, and there was a call for his resignation. Richard made a big show of stepping down and handing management over to Mr. Bolingbroke, which was what got them to where they were today.

Maybe it was their previous friendship, but Mr. Bolingbroke didn't totally hate Richard. He hated Richard for mismanaging the station and handing him the smoldering remains, but he still had some respect for the man. Anyway, he was a good husband and father, that counted for something. And they had been friends, once. Maybe after all this they could begin to patch it up.

His friendship with Richard wasn't the only one that had gone south in recent months. Harry had taken it upon himself to defy his father at every chance he had, going as far as breaking federal law for apparently the thrill. Mr. Bolingbroke knew about the pirate station but at the moment was too stressed out with everything else to do anything about it. Harry had once helped out at the station but he didn't any more. He avoided his father whenever possible. In was hard on Humphrey, as Harry was his favorite sibling.

Harry had always been such a clever boy and he had so much potential. His father loved him dearly but apparently that wasn't enough to get the kid to listen.

Mr. Bolingbroke wasn't sure where he went wrong. Above the TV was a big photograph with all the family. It was one of the last with Mary. He missed those days, he missed Mary, he missed knowing what to do. He hadn't slept well for a week- the station's fate was hanging over him and he had begun to feel a nagging guilt at being one of the people who had called for Richard's resignation. Everyone else in the world could sleep except for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Angevin2 for the image of Mathe in a sweater!
> 
> My apologies to the fine town of Lancaster, New York. I'm using a fictionalized TV market for the town, so if you are by some bizarre chance from Lancaster, that's why it's inaccurate and made up.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally published as "Boar's Head Radio," the first story in the broadcast AU series, before I planned to turn it into a multichapter series with a plot. That's why it's so out of place. God I need to edit this better.

It was the best plan ever. Hal and Ned were going to play their greatest prank yet and they were totally going to get away with it, because the target was Jack.

Hal could tell Ned had something planned when he bounded into Hal's room, grinning. His lanky, sandy-haired best friend was always up to something, but he looked especially excited today. He'd tossed Jack a Red Bull and flopped down on Hal's futon, still grinning.

"Okay, listen. We've got a perfect shot here on Friday, Rachel suggested it and it's perfect. There's a little station out by Canterbury Apartments, and she says it's perfect for our own broadcast," Ned said with a grin. "We're gonna take over their frequency." He sat up. "If you guys come it'll be great." Ned was a talented broadcast engineer, even if he didn't always follow the law.

"You going to join us, Hal?" Jack asked, taking a swig of the beverage that he pretty much subsisted on. Jack was a few years older than Hal and Ned and not much of a productive member of society. He had worked at one of the local stations until getting fired and leading the life he did now, phreaking and hanging out at the Boar's Head Record Shop and mooching off the manager.

"What, me, hijack a signal?" Hal said, acting offended that they'd even suggest such a thing. "No, I'm not going to."

"Then you're no real experimenter," Jack said. "You can't claim to come from a family of distinguished broadcasters."

"Well, someday I'll do something crazy!" Hal replied, lounging on his bed. Hal was handsome, dark-haired, and indeed the son of a television broadcaster, the manager of the local CBS affiliate. However, Hal had taken to running a pirate radio station on FM with Ned and Jack, under his alias "Harry Leroy" rather than working with his dad.

"Then I'm not going to pay attention to you when you run the station," Jack said.

"I don't care!" Hal said, grinning.

"Look," said Ned, "I'll get him to come with us!"

"Good luck," Jack said, heaving himself off the futon and heading out the door, picking through the piles of junk on the floor of Hal's room, nearly getting his foot caught in the bicycle wheel that was leaning on the wall.

Once Jack was gone, Ned pounced on Hal. "Okay, listen. I have a prank that I'm going to pull, and I need your help to do it. Jack, Brad, Rachel, and Pete are gonna hijack the signal. But we're gonna jam their signal!" He was grinning. He had built his own jammer and was excited to try it out.

"How are we gonna get away from them?" Hal asked, standing up from the futon and picking up his favorite red leather jacket.

"You and I'll take my car and get there early," Ned explained. "They're all a bunch of losers, they'll freak out and not have any idea how to fix it. Then we get to hear Jack's explanation for his hijacking getting hijacked. You know he's going to make up some huge story, like it's a second Max Headroom or something.”

Hal was silent for a moment, then grinned. “Okay! I'll come with you!” he said with an excited squeal.

Ned spread his arms and grinned in triumph.

“You get everything ready,” Hal said. “Meet me Friday night night, I'll get dinner on East Street and we'll be off!” He hugged his best friend and Ned bounded out of the bedroom, no doubt to get his equipment ready. Hal was left with his thoughts and the drone of the radio on his dresser.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Signal jamming is illegal in the United States and is a federal crime. Do not attempt unless you want the FCC to haul your butt off to jail.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long on getting this chapter out, I've been busy writing another fic. School will be starting soon so I don't know how I'm going to be with keeping up with this story, but I'm going to do my best.
> 
> Anyway, time to move the action to Canada!

Kate Valois rushed upstairs after dinner to her room, hoping she wasn't late. It was time for the broadcast she tuned into every night, a pirate station from America that played alternative and indie tracks and was hosted by two adorable-sounding DJs. She couldn't understand them very well because despite being a first year college student, she was still not very good with English. That caused her a great deal of grief, but not during the two glorious hours of the show. 

Kate was a radio enthusiast and enjoyed finding stations on both AM/FM and shortwave. She'd found this station while scanning the AM band one night, and she'd immediately been impressed, although she knew it was illegal- maybe that's what made it so cool. She'd done as much investigation as she could, finally figuring they were in the United States rather than Canada. She couldn't find out anything else, except they called themselves “Boar's Head Radio” and the DJs were called Harry Leroy and Ned- although one or both of those might have been aliases. Googling “Boar's Head Radio” only turned up some English-style pubs and a record shop near Buffalo, New York.

Tonight they were playing a song called “Voices” by Saosin, and Kate listened as she worked on extra English practice- listening to the show was helping. It wasn't that she was stupid- she wasn't. She was good with all her other subjects, but English was just hard for her- but the wonderfully eclectic music encouraged her. Ned mostly spun classic rock like the Clash, Springsteen’s lesser known early stuff, and Bob Dylan. Then there was the more modern tracks- 90s alt like Hum, British bands like Foals, math rock like Dance Gavin Dance, even a few bands she'd heard of before, like Radiohead, and music from twenty one pilots before they became famous. Those were what Harry Leroy played.

Oh, Harry Leroy… he had such a cute voice and she'd wondered what he looked like- hopefully as attractive as his speech. 

There was a knock at the door and Kate turned down the radio. “Come in!” She called. 

It was her father. “Hey, Kate,” he said, stepping into her room. “Got a minute?” 

“Sure,” she replied, swiveling around in her desk chair. “You can sit down.” 

“Why, thank you, your majesty,” her father teased. That had been an old joke between them since Kate had been named for some long-gone queen. He took a seat on her bed. 

“So what's up, Dad?” 

“I got a call from Mr. Montjoy today. He says he's making headway with CBS on the deal, and he thinks I should come down and talk to them in person.” 

“Cool,” Kate said. Her father, Charles Valois was a high-ranking manager with Agencourt Media, a syndicate that owned several Francophone radio and television stations in Quebec and New Brunswick, They had recently been venturing into English language broadcast. A deal with CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting Service, could mean Agencourt would have rights to air syndicated dubbed programs from one of the big four American networks. 

“I wanted to know if you wanted to go to New York with me,” Charles said. “It’d be fun, I bet.”

“I bet,” Kate echoed. That did sound cool. The farthest she'd been from home had been Halifax, visiting her mother's stuffy relatives. 

“I just wanted to know if you wanted to,” Charles said. 

“Of course!” She said.

“Great. I'm looking at leaving in about a week.” He stood up to leave. “Sorry it's such short notice,” he added. “Mr. Montjoy thinks we can close the deal. Just think, Kate. We could be CBS’s main affiliate.” 

“Awesome,” Kate said, grinning. She was already thinking about going to New York and all the places she wanted to see.

“We’re going to go to Buffalo first, since they’re looking to make some kind of deal with a Canadian station, Montjoy didn't explain much. You know him, he talks about lot but usually doesn't say anything important.”

“I suppose that's why we call him the network mouthpiece!” Kate said with a laugh.

Charles laughed. “Well, I'll let you get back to work,” he said. “Good night, your majesty.”

 _New York…_ Kate thought, turning the radio back up and going back to her writing. 

New York. 

The station was in New York- she just knew it. Something had tipped her off but she couldn’t remember what. A new song started and Kate was carried away.

\-------

“Up next we’re taking you back to 1994! Remember that year, Ned?” Hal asked, checking his leadsheet.

“No way, I wasn’t even born then!” Ned replied with a laugh. They tried to stick to less morning crew banter on air but sometimes they did it ironically when it felt like it worked. 

“You don’t even remember what you had for lunch,” Hal teased, cueing up the song and timing his lead in- “Here’s Sponge with ‘Plowed.’” As the lyrics started, Hal leaned back in his chair.  


“So you going to help me?” Ned asked. 

“Well, duh. We gotta try out that jammer at some point,” Hal replied. He knew Ned had been itching to use the signal jammer he’d built. 

“Jack’s gonna freak, it’s gonna be great,” Ned said. They were quiet for a moment. 

“You know my dad knows about the station,” Hal said. 

“And he hasn’t done anything about it?” 

“I’m not sure why,” Hal said. “I think he’s too busy with the crap at his station.” 

“Any more news on that?”

Hal sighed. Everything at his dad's station had gone wrong, especially after Richard left. Hal actually missed Richard, even if he had wrecked the station- at least he was cool. Better than Hal’s stodgy old dad. For the last year, Hal had been trying to distance himself from his father and make his own mark on local broadcasting. He'd even gone so far as to stop using his father's name for him- Harry- and go by Hal. He kept Harry for his radio personality, but he didn't know why. Every once and awhile he felt bad for not working with his dad, who desperately needed help with the station, especially since the network decided to dump them. 

And tonight he really felt bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story continues in the side story "Lend Me Your Airtime." - http://archiveofourown.org/works/10429935


	12. 2016 Christmas Special

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays from WKTE, CBS 33!


End file.
